


Don't Touch Me I'm Sorry It's Too Late

by LookUponMyWorksYeMighty (Krasimer)



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: "Isn't it suffocating?", Angry Stans, Grunkle Ford Has Issues, Grunkle Stan Has Issues, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Weirdmageddon, Stan yells at Ford, Stancest in small doses, Weirdmageddon, Written pre-Weirdmageddon, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 09:38:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7972027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/LookUponMyWorksYeMighty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reality as they knew it was changed forever, a splintered timeline that wasn't ever going to be fixed. Dipper, young and brilliant and so much like him, was far too attached to his sister. When she betrayed him, he would be as broken as Ford was when Stan had done the same to him.</p><p>Mabel would be fine with the separation. Stan had been, had gotten himself through life on his personality alone-</p><p>"Suffocating?"</p><p>Sitting up in his chair, Ford turned to look at his brother. "What?"</p><p>"I'm <i>suffocating</i>?" Stan's hands were clenched into fists at his sides. "I suffocate you?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Touch Me I'm Sorry It's Too Late

Ford grumbled as he settled at his desk, pressing his face into his hands.

Reality as they knew it was changed forever, a splintered timeline that wasn't ever going to be fixed. Dipper, young and brilliant and so much like him, was far too attached to his sister. When she betrayed him, he would be as broken as Ford was when Stan had done the same to him.

Mabel would be fine with the separation. Stan had been, had gotten himself through life on his personality alone-

"Suffocating?"

Sitting up in his chair, Ford turned to look at his brother. "What?"

"I'm _suffocating_?" Stan's hands were clenched into fists at his sides. "I suffocate you?"

His tie was undone and his eyes were narrowed. "All I asked, Stanford, was that you stay away from the kids. When you failed at that, all I wanted was to keep them safe." he bared his teeth in a growl. "You failed at that, too!" he swung a hand back towards the elevator. "You keep blaming me for the accident when we were kids, but you kept stupidly quiet about somethin' that put us in so much more danger than what I did!"

"Stanley-"

"No!" Stan's entire body twitched as he shook his head. "They aren't us, Ford, they don't behave the same way because they aren't us! Mabel and Dipper are so much better than we ever were, and it's only because you kept quiet about the Rift that any of this happened!" he stormed further into the room, shoes scuffling along the ground. "...You supported our pops kickin' me out when I was seventeen, Ford."

His voice was softer now, a bitter edge of regret as sharp as a knife. "I was just a dumb kid."

Ford frowned, reaching for his brother's arm. "I didn't mean-" the words cut out as he stopped, swallowing once. "You don't-"

"You said what you meant, Ford. You always have." Stan grabbed something that looked suspiciously like a weapon, setting it on the desk in front of him. "I didn't get much smarter as I got older, either. My lessons were learned in dark alleys and backstreets that nearly got me killed. The hair thing was just what I could say in front of the kids." he paused, looked at his twin. "And you didn't even bother trying to find me until you needed somethin' from me."

"I-"

"You're done talking, Stanford. My turn." Stan braced his hands on the edge of his desk. "I'm done expecting anything but anger from you. I'm done fighting, I'm done with everything except those kids up there. Mabel, Dipper, and Soos are my family now. You're nothing but a stupid dream I was chasing for thirty years.

"Like I said," he glanced at his brother again. "I didn't get much smarter as I got older. Still kept holding on to those stupid dreams that didn't do anything for me but leave me wiping dirt off my knees and blood off my face."

Stan took a deep breath, looking at the picture of the younger twins that he had put on the desk, reaching for it to tug Mabel's face out from where it was hidden behind the machinery. "All dreams ever do is break your heart. Learned that a little too late." he ran his thumb over their permanent smiles. "All loving you ever got me was pain and sleepless nights. It's supposed to be this big...Thing. Supposed to make you excited to wake up and make you hate going to sleep because you have to be away from them for long enough for your mind to rest."

"...You ruined-"

"Don't you fuckin' dare," Stan growled. 

"Stanley, you-" Ford covered his face, trying to fight against the rising panic in his chest. He stood, pushed his brother back against the wall, pressing their foreheads together as he searched Stan's eyes for something. "I never meant to-"

There was nothing he could say that wouldn't be a twisted truth or an outright lie. 

Five fingers wrapped around Ford's throat, Stan switching their positions until Ford's back was jammed against the wall. "Don't touch me." he hissed into his ear, clenching his hand tighter. "If I suffocate you so much, maybe I should actually go through with it."

Breathing came harder as Ford watched his brother's face shift, brown eyes narrowing angrily. 

"I've loved you since we were kids," Stan muttered. "It's always been you and now I'm just- I'm tired of sitting on the same stupid beach in my dreams and having to figure out each night that you're not coming for me. That you've probably never felt the same way, and all I've ever done is waste my time." he pulled away, leaving a wave of cold air in his wake. "You should get ready, we've got a bunch of stuff to do if we want to survive what's next."

He turned to leave, pausing when Ford reached a hand out and grabbed his shoulder. "I never wanted this to happen."

"End of the world, what'd you-"

"I meant-" Ford swallowed nervously. "Between us. I never wanted this distance, or this emptiness when I realize that you're not right there. I've always..." his throat clicked as he swallowed again. "Stanley, it's always been you."

Stan looked at his brother, pinching his lips together as his hands clenched into fists again, at his sides once more. "Ford..."

A pair of six-fingered hands slid up his cheeks, Ford's eyes focused intently on the features that were so similar to his own, tangling his fingers in the soft hair that framed his face. "If we survive this, there is so much I want to say to you. I don't think we have too much time right now, so I won't make empty promises, but there are things I want you to hear."

Grumbling, Stan wrapped his hands around his brother's wrists. "Y'know, Poindexter, you could'a just said this when we were younger."

"I know, I'm sorry." Ford took a deep breath, then leaned closer. Resting his forehead against Stan's shoulder, he hugged him tightly, fingers clenching in the other man's shirt. When he felt his brother's arms wrapping around him, he shivered, clinging even closer to him, as if he were trying to leech warmth from him.

"Forty years separated and we're still stupid about each other."

"...I can feel your eyes rolling, Stanley, and I know you don't mean it."

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posting from my tumblr.
> 
> Still liked it well enough to put it up here.


End file.
